Contemporary Reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China and Its Significance (2)

Thirdly, festival revival and cultural reflection: the contemporary reconstruction significance of Valentine's Day in China.

The contemporary reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China is of great significance. Can be summarized as follows:

1. effectively helped China get rid of the survival dilemma and promoted the revival of the festival.

The traditional festivals in China are rooted in the agricultural society and have a long history. They are an indispensable part of traditional social life. In modern times, in the process of globalization and modernization, the status of traditional festivals has obviously declined under the joint action of many factors, and Valentine's Day in China is also facing a crisis of survival. If the active existence of festivals lies in all or part of the practice of holiday customs by social members in different social positions and assuming different social roles at a specific time and in a specific situation, or in short, it lies in the fact that a certain number of people in society spend this time as a "festival", then at the end of the 20th century, Tanabata, a once popular traditional festival, has existed in name only because there are not many holiday subjects. But today, more than ten years later, we can see the vitality of this festival from the huge data of flower shops selling flowers and the phenomenon that the notice and publicity about Qixi activities come one after another before the festival arrives. The revival of Valentine's Day in China is obvious, and its living condition is not what it used to be. Although there are many factors behind the revival of Valentine's Day in China, Tanabata is not the only traditional festival that has experienced the revival process, there is no doubt that cultural reconstruction has played a vital role in reversing the fate of Valentine's Day in China. Because it is this reconstruction that makes love the theme of Tanabata, which conforms to the values and social needs of contemporary people, and therefore quickly attracts the attention of many businessmen and urban men and women, and rapidly develops and expands the festival groups. Moreover, this reconstruction has brought China Valentine's Day back to public view, which not only aroused the early memories of China Valentine's Day for many middle-aged and elderly people, but also made people pay more attention to the traditional customs of China Valentine's Day that are still active in some places, such as Xihe in Gansu, Shitang in Wenzhou and Hezhu in Guangzhou, which also promoted the contemporary revival of China Valentine's Day.

Traditional festivals are a set of cultures closely related to life, including a series of rules about who should or should not do what and how to do it. Traditional festivals are like a living body in the long river of time, with their own history of growth, development and evolution. It can live and die. From birth to death is usually regarded as the normal life process of a traditional festival. The transformation of Valentine's Day in China shows that the fate of traditional festivals is actually more complicated: you can not only live, but also die from life and come back from the dead. Under certain conditions, it can return to the daily life of social members in a new way after the interruption of inheritance, and be followed, performed and practiced by them. At the same time, the transformation of Valentine's Day in China shows that under the multicultural background, foreign culture is not only the source of conflict and competition, but also the key to activating local traditions and an important resource that can be used in the process of traditional rejuvenation. Cultural reconstruction has great power to revive the dead and turn decay into magic.

2. Adding love scenes to the festival system in China enriches the life content of social members.

"China people have love, but there is no love in China mythology. China has a lover, but China has no Valentine's Day. " ① The cultural reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China fills this gap, highlights the significance and value of love, and provides an opportunity for contemporary people to express their love frankly and seek romance. And various festivals borrowed and invented around the theme of love have greatly enriched the life content of social members. From some news reports, we can perceive the richness of Valentine's Day life in China on June 20 13 (Gregorian calendar 13). For example, the article "Romantic Economy Attacks Early on Tanabata" mentioned: "Although there is still a period of time before Tanabata, businesses from all walks of life have already prepared for the business opportunities of Tanabata in advance &; In addition to traditional flower shops, cake shops and cinemas, the atmosphere of Tanabata in major shopping malls and supermarkets is becoming increasingly strong. Lsquo Romantic Economy &; Rsquo quietly attacked. " In addition to conventional gifts such as chocolate, cakes and plush toys, many creative gifts such as fireflies, rose soap and bamboo slips love letters are also very popular among young couples. ③ For another example, Tongzhou District of Beijing held the first Beijing Tanabata Festival from August 9 to August 13, including the Tanabata Song Festival, the Love Canal Wedding Culture Exhibition and the Damei Canal Tanabata Traditional Culture Exhibition 17; ④ At 7: 07 on Tanabata, a grand "China 20 13 Love Song Concert" was also staged in the Capital Gymnasium, in which 77 couples openly recruited by the organizers participated in the interaction. More than 10,000 spectators and many stars witnessed the expression of love. ⑤

3. Various social forces * * * participated in the cultural reconstruction of Tanabata, which objectively promoted the cultural reflection of the whole society.

The cultural reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China is attributed to the participation of various social forces. Among them, experts mainly play a leading role and undertake argumentation work from an academic perspective. Businessmen also played an important role. Because traditional festivals are often consumption time, profit-oriented businesses will always intervene in traditional festivals, and prosperous markets often become moving scenery during festivals. It is generally believed that merchants mainly provide people with various items to celebrate festivals in a conventional way. However, during the transformation of Valentine's Day in China, merchants not only provided the goods and services needed by the main body of the festival, but also provided the space for festival activities. More importantly, they also instructed the theme of the festival on how to celebrate the festival and how to spend money. By guiding how to consume, they produce people's recognition, preference and demand for specific goods and services, and also produce festival activities and cultural symbols, thus shaping the festival itself. At present, China Valentine's Day has actually become a Valentine's Day, with flowers, chocolates, red wine, champagne, candlelight dinners, romantic trips and so on. It has become a cultural symbol of Valentine's Day in China, largely because businesses such as flower shops, chocolate dealers, wine dealers, restaurants and travel agencies are more active in promoting their goods and services in the name of festivals than businesses in other industries. People are the decisive force for the transformation of Tanabata. Based on the needs of life and cultural consciousness, they participated in the cultural reconstruction of Tanabata, not only discussing the legitimacy, but more importantly, confirming the love theme of Tanabata with their own choices. Based on the purpose of pursuing individuality and winning the favor of lovers, they constantly promote the adoption and invention of Chinese Valentine's Day activities. Mass media, on the other hand, pay attention to public opinion, transmit information, express opinions, trigger thinking, and provide a platform for exchanges and collisions between various forces. In a word, social forces with different interests and goals, such as scholars, citizens, enterprises and media, have influenced and inspired each other in the same cultural space in China, creating the necessary cultural atmosphere and space for the transformation from Qiao Qi Festival to Valentine's Day, promoting the legitimacy and subjective choice necessary for this transformation, and playing a unique role in the cultural reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China.

It is worth mentioning that the cultural reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China is not harmonious, and there are different opinions on how to rename Valentine's Day in China and whether to recognize Valentine's Day in China as Valentine's Day in China. These arguments have far-reaching implications and far-reaching significance.

In the concept of China people, "if the name is not regular, the words will not be smooth, and if the words are not smooth, there will be no". The controversy over the naming of Tanabata has been described in the previous article. The naming dispute obviously continues the thinking logic of "correcting the name". Behind it is the ardent hope of the public, especially intellectuals, that the once-declining traditional festivals can be revived and passed down for a long time, the design and ideal of the country where this festival will be revived, and the beautiful wish that the revived festivals can be applied to the world, convey cultural values, solve social problems and maintain social order. Whether Valentine's Day in China should be recognized as Valentine's Day in China is controversial. For example, in 2006, some scholars put forward the view that "Tanabata is not traditional as Valentine's Day", which aroused strong opposition from many people and turned into a cultural event, causing an uproar. For example, in August, 2009 14, a post was posted on Tencent QQ forum to make Qixi PK Valentine's Day. There are pros and cons in the debate. The representative view of the pros and cons is: "I don't think it matters, keep pace with the times!" Cowherd and Weaver Girl are also symbols of love. As long as there is demand, market and people who like this atmosphere, don't be so serious. After all, tradition is man-made! The representative's view of the opposing side is: "I think we should resist this attempt to worship foreign things and flatter foreign countries." The original meaning of Tanabata is not Valentine's Day. If the traditional culture is changed because of commercial interests, the things left by our ancestors will gradually become stale! "Whether it is a positive view or a negative view, there are many posts. For example, the parameters of a square 1 1 are as follows:

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have constantly established diplomatic relations with the outside world. After joining the WTO, our exchanges with the world have become closer. With the development of society, non-mainstream and western ideas also poured in. Since Tanabata can also drive market consumption, why not? For lovers, especially lovers in China, isn't it another opportunity to create warmth and sweetness? We can't exclude western culture, what we need to do is to carry forward our own culture. Don't close the door, don't build a car, and be brave in communication. Carry forward our culture. Let Qixi become a traditional love festival in the world. ③

Opponent 3 argued:

We should protect the existing traditional culture and further promote the "love culture of cowherd and weaver girl". This is the legacy of our ancestors. If we want to pass on the history well, we need to pass it on from generation to generation, which is what we have to do from generation to generation. Strengthen our national cohesion, strengthen the "soft power" of the motherland in the world competition, and don't let foreigners see jokes. ④

These posts around whether Valentine's Day in China should be closer to Valentine's Day express the cognition and understanding of ordinary people in China on how to treat local culture and foreign culture, traditional culture and modern culture. This is a process in which the public participates in the cultural reconstruction, cultural reflection and criticism, and cultivates public cultural consciousness, cultural self-confidence, cultural appreciation, cultural reflection and life autonomy. From the collision and confrontation of different viewpoints, we can see that the pluralistic value orientation, tolerance of differences and adherence to the national standard are presented together in this era. We also see that this kind of collision and confrontation inspires and pushes holders of different views to think more deeply about multiculturalism and its relationship. These thoughts are undoubtedly of great help to the future development of Valentine's Day in China, the inheritance of all traditional festivals, and even the contemporary construction of China culture. It can be said that the cultural reconstruction of Tanabata objectively plays a role in promoting the cultural reflection of the whole society, and its actual influence has far exceeded Tanabata.

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People have the right to live the holiday life they want and choose the way they like. At present, great changes have taken place in China people's life style and love concept, the national consciousness is rising, and the revival of tradition has become the general trend. The demands of China people to celebrate Valentine's Day and their own Valentine's Day should be fully expressed and respected. The transformation from Tanabata to Valentine's Day in China is the realization of this demand and the natural result of people's cultural choice with a certain national cultural awareness and an open attitude of accommodating differences, which is not only understandable, but also worth cherishing. But in my opinion, this is not the end of China's Valentine's Day cultural reconstruction, but a phased achievement, and it should only be a phased achievement. Because the cultural reconstruction of Tanabata's transformation from Chinese Valentine's Day to China Valentine's Day is of great significance, but it also has defects, that is, it has covered the traditional Tanabata activities to some extent.

Valentine's Day in China, which has a history of 2,000 years, has already formed a variety of customs and activities in the process of its continuous development and evolution, and has a variety of local manifestations. For example, Jojo Festival, which is still active in Xihe, Gansu, is a typical Daughter's Day. The participants are mainly unmarried girls. The festival lasted for seven days and eight nights, including welcoming Jojo, offering Jojo, singing Jojo, dancing with my sister, worshiping Jojo, welcoming water, having a good meal, drawing pictures, seeing Jojo off and a series of ceremonies, accompanied by corresponding ceremonies, songs and dances. (1) Tanabata in Ruoshan Village, Shitang, Wenling, Zhejiang Province is "Little People's Day". The main participants are/kloc-children under 0/6 years old and their families. Its main activity is to offer sacrifices to the seven goddesses and pray for the healthy growth of children. ② The numerous custom activities and local expressions of Tanabata, as well as its poetic and romantic name "Tanabata", have important life value, historical value, artistic value and identity value, and should have a better living space than now. In other words, the future Valentine's Day in China should not only absorb the advantages of foreign cultures, but also have more elements of China (not only holiday time, but also holiday activities and their cultural connotations), which can be regarded as Valentine's Day, Begging for Cleverness Festival and even Villain's Day in a larger space.

At present, the important way to break through the cover of Valentine's Day and realize the honor of * * * is the daily life of Tanabata's historical memory and the popularization of Tanabata's popular activities to a certain extent. The former refers to consciously taking some measures to make the historical memory of China traditional Valentine's Day, which once existed vividly in documents and minds, return to daily life and put it into practice. The latter refers to consciously taking some measures to make Qixi, a custom passed down and enjoyed by individual locals, be enjoyed and passed down by more people in a larger space. There is no doubt that there are some obstacles in both roads. The former mainly needs to overcome the challenges brought by the changes of the times: after all, the Tanabata in historical memory is the Tanabata in traditional society, which more embodies the ideal and pursuit of agricultural society, while we are now facing industrial civilization and modern society. What the latter needs to overcome is the challenge brought by the spatial displacement: after all, the local Qixi folk activities are a festival culture that grows and develops in a specific space and adapts to its soil and water, while popularization means putting it in a non-local environment. This also determines that no matter which path is chosen, it can't be a comprehensive copy of the traditional Valentine's Day custom in China and the Qixi custom in a specific place, but only a cultural reconstruction process that uses it as a resource, recombines with other elements and applies it to practice.

The future reconstruction of Valentine's Day in China still needs the participation of many forces, including scholars. It should be noted that scholars have neither the right nor the ability to ask people to choose the festival life and way that experts and scholars prefer, but experts and scholars can put forward their own views through research, thus providing more choices for people to celebrate festivals. This is the social responsibility and contribution of scholars.